Why have Republicans moved so far to the right?

[All Along The Watchtower]

Seriously, someone like Barry Goldwater was considered too nutty to be elected to the Presidency by a landslide majority of the country in 1964. Today, a mainstream Republican has to profess his belief in God, Jesus, and Ronald Reagan (who was to the right of Goldwater), not necessarily in that order, in order to be seen as a credible Republican.

Seriously, what happened to make a whole party shift continually to the right?

This shift, btw, doesn't apply to Democrats in terms of economic issues. The Dems have gotten more right-wing on economics, if anything, following the Republicans' lead. On cultural issues, sure, you could argue that the Democratic Party of today is somewhat more accepting of diversity (especially without the Dixiecrats). But on many of the bread and butter economic and military issues, the Dems are either more mixed or more right-wing than they used to be.

So, what happened?

[krazen1211]

What happened?

Jimmy Carter, stagflation, and malaise.

[freepcrusher]

Well look at who they nominated in 2008. John McCain, when one looks at his ACU ratings, is not that conservative. He's similar to someone like Brian Bilbray. He can be counted on to vote with republicans on most issues, but he can sometimes crossover and vote with the dems too.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Reagan happened.

Although to be fair to AuH20, Jesus couldn't beat Johnson in 1964.

[Mr. Taft Republican]

A whole new host of issues leading into the century? Idk.

Why'd the Dems move with them?

[Dgov]

What happened?

Jimmy Carter, stagflation, and malaise.

This--the 1980s conservative realignment didn't come about just because Reagan was a good public speaker (though that helped).  The 1960s and 1970s are basket cases for the overreaches and failures of LBJ Liberalism, and by the 1980s, there was a general consensus that their policies didn't work.

Crime then was much higher than it is now, the inner city slums were growing rapidly, and there were a host of other factors that made the country miserable.  Then Reagan came along and we entered into a fairly consistent 25-year Economic boom, crime dropped, the cold war ended, inflation dropped to manageable levels (to the point that it hasn't been an issue at all since 1984).  Regardless of whether or not you think these effects were Reagan's doing, the American public sure believed they were, and the Democrats had to tread right to keep up, culminating in Clinton signing Welfare reform in 1996.  In fact, it can be said that the Democrats "lust their groove" for about 25 years after 1982, which is one of the reasons i think Obama was so widely popular with the Liberal base--he was their chance to start pulling the Country left again.

To summarize, Americans got a taste of Conservative success and liked it.

[Napoleon]

According to J.C. Watts, the former Representative from Oklahoma, the people who supported Howard Dean in 2004 are with the Tea party today. If the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party is a bunch of teabaggers now, the right-wing wins. Concern trolls like the OP and LBJ Revivalist also win. America loses.

[anvi]

Boy, I would love to see evidence of that claim by Watts.  Not many things about politics shock me anymore, but if Watts is right about voters going from Dean to TEA in the last seven years, that would shock me.

[Yelnoc]

the most recent right-ward lurch is the result of no Bush around to keep a lid on the crazies.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I don't think they have.......they're still in spending like a drunken sailor mode......and they have no true conservative leader, none.

[courts]

I don't think they have.......they're still in spending like a drunken sailor mode......and they have no true conservative leader, none.

Well, that's starting with all the austerity and de-unionization talk. But let me put it this way... How many Republicans were openly saying that it was OK for the government to shut down the internet on a whim, torture people, jail journalists, take naked pictures of you at the airport (or other places), hand out national ID, etc. 15 years ago? Yet all of those are cheered on by the 'small government' Republicans today. I could say what I think that really sounds like but I don't want to get infracted for excessive hyperbole.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I don't think they have.......they're still in spending like a drunken sailor mode......and they have no true conservative leader, none.

Well, that's starting with all the austerity and de-unionization talk. But let me put it this way... How many Republicans were openly saying that it was OK for the government to shut down the internet on a whim, torture people, jail journalists, take naked pictures of you at the airport (or other places), hand out national ID, etc. 15 years ago? Yet all of those are cheered on by the 'small government' Republicans today. I could say what I think that really sounds like but I don't want to get infracted for excessive hyperbole.

GW, I don't recognize the kind of Republicans that used to exist when I was one.......

[opebo]

Why did Hitler end up taking over and destroying Germany?  We're just headed in that direction.  It takes time, its a process.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Andrew Sullivan: "It's always worth recalling that the Republican party's historic conservatism, from Lincoln to Eisenhower, was not based in the South. Nixon changed that. For a while, the fusionism worked, primarily under the sunny Californian, Ronald Reagan. But the South is so strong an identity, so powerful a cultural force, that it inevitably becomes the cuckoo in any nest. And the South is hard to comprehend without the racial politics which has defined it and thus contemporary Republicanism. This has proven fatal to a coherent governing conservatism, in my view. And it is deadly for conservatism's future as something other than cultural reaction and denial of the shifting nature of 21st century geo-politics."

[LBJ Revivalist]

If i had made this same thread.....

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

We basically went back to our classical Liberal roots, but then abandoned it for Neo-Conservatism.